Ghosts In The Machine
by FiresofAnarchy
Summary: A collection of one shots featuring various characters from Detroit Become Human.
1. Aspiring Artists

**Ghosts In The Machine**

 **Aspiring Artists**

 **So after months of wandering around Skyrim I finally was able to get to a point where I was comfortable saying I finished the game. Detroit Become Human was an obvious choice for what to play afterwards considering the fact that I love both sci fi and Quantic Dream's other games. I still haven't gotten around to writing the Heavy Rain fic that I planned over a year ago but that's beside the point. Anyways I blew through the game in one night and it's definitely surpassed Beyond Two Souls as my favorite. I think I got a pretty good ending out of it; Markus got the government to recognize the androids's rights, Kara and Alice survived the recycling facility, and Connor didn't lose his mind to Amanda. I was kind of disappointed that there weren't any epilogue scenes after I finished the game though. Apparently I didn't get good enough of an ending for that. Anyways after a few days of playing Borderlands 2 I finally sat back down and tried to figure out what I wanted to write about and the first thing that came to mind was something with Connor. For various reasons that stalled after I was about 75 % done with it and I tried to think of something else. This scene came to my mind and I ran with it. Honestly Kara's story is the one I grew the most attached to and she had so many aw inducing moments with Alice in the game that I had to try my hand at adding a few more. I'm also a sucker for Markus and Carl so that's in here too. I was listening to Ordinary World by Green Day while writing this. I hope you like it.**

* * *

Kara wakes up to the eclectic decor that adorns the walls of Carl Manfred's guest room. Despite the various bobbles and pieces of art that she's sure were never actually intended to go together the whole place feels warm and inviting and that in of itself fills her with a strange sense of comfort after so many days on the run. Alice isn't in her arms like she was when they went to sleep though and she struggles to fight down the panic that rises inside of her at that fact. They're staying at Carl Manfred's house, a man who Markus considers his father, and Markus himself as well as North are also staying in the other guest room. In reality Alice is probably safer than she's ever been. That reasoning doesn't do much to calm her nerves though. If she heads downstairs faster than normal no one needs to know.

They've been staying here the past few weeks at Markus's suggestion. With Jericho destroyed and much of Detroit in various states of disarray following Markus's launching of raids on the recycling centers set up by the US government there was really nowhere else for them to go in the immediate future. Markus himself had already been planning on using the mansion as a place to wind down after long days being the de facto head of state for the new android population living in Detroit. Carl needed more people around who weren't him and Leo anyways, at least according to Markus, something about it being good for his recovery. Honestly, she doesn't know enough about human physiology to make any sort of assumptions on that front. Carl's apparently doing much better than the last time Markus saw him and that's good because even in the brief time she's seen them interact it's clear they mean a lot to each other.

North's a little bit harder for her to gauge. She and Markus seem to be happy together, but Kara has never really had much in the way of a meaningful conversation with the other woman. When Markus goes to hammer out some negotiation with the US government or debate the future of android society with other prominent members of the resistance she almost never goes with him though which means she's around a lot more. If Kara had to guess, though she also isn't an expert in psychology, she'd say that North looked bored now that the brief fight for Detroit was over and perhaps even a little disappointed that it hadn't escalated into a larger conflict. She spends most of her time running laps around the neighborhood and hardly ever even talks to Carl unless Markus is around so Kara doesn't take the lack of communication personally. Alice seems to like her though and at the end of the day that always accounts for something in her book.

She reaches the living room in record time but finds it empty. Voices from what she had always assumed was a locked closet draw her attention. She has to make sure if one of them is Alice so she heads over and tries the door. The art studio is a breathtaking sight in of itself and she's sure she's never seen so much color before in her life. In the center of the room however there's Alice smiling as brightly as that night on the carousel and that takes her breath away for an entirely different reason. She's got a paintbrush in her hand and is painting something while Carl watches intently from some sort of contraption attached to his wheelchair but Kara can't make it out from her position in the doorway. She's too taken aback by the variety of emotions hitting her at once to move though.

"She's a natural," Carl says noticing her. "Getting Markus to do this was like pulling teeth."

"That's because you practically threw me to the wolves with no prior warning," Markus says carrying a box of art supplies from behind a row of shelves. "She actually wanted to paint."

"You wanted to paint too," Carl says. "You just didn't know that you wanted to."

"Wants aren't exactly something they program you for at Cyberlife," Markus says. "But yes I suppose watching you paint brought me a certain level of comfort even back then."

"See Alice," Carl says. "He's coming around."

At this Alice turns around to acknowledge him but instead catches sight of her and says, "Kara, are you coming to paint too?"

"I don't know," she says unsure. "It seems a little crowded."

"Nonsense," Carl says. "The more the merrier."

"Come on Kara," Alice says giving her a look that she has no chance of saying no to.

"Okay," she says moving further into the room. "Where do I start?"

"You start with a canvas," Markus says plopping one onto an easel in front of her. "The rest is up to you."

"Okay," she says grabbing a paint brush with more confidence than she feels.

"Try closing your eyes," Carl says. "It worked with Markus."

"Hey that painting of the desk was perfectly fine," Markus says.

"Exactly, it was perfect," Carl says. "It wasn't art."

"Now you sound like those critics you're always complaining about," Markus says. "What happened to your whole "art is subjective" speech?"

"Those people would probably actually like that desk painting," Carl says. "Maybe you should try selling it to them."

"Right after you sell that painting of the Mayan vase," Markus says with a smirk.

"You drive a hard bargain," Carl says.

With the conversation seemingly over Kara returns her attention to the canvas in front of her. She closes her eyes briefly but opens them again when nothing immediately comes to mind.

"Picture something that makes you feel something," Carl says in an encouraging voice. "It could be happy or sad as long as it's an emotion."

She closes her eyes again and an image of Alice immediately comes into view. Of course it would be Alice. Alice who has made her feel amounts of happiness and fear that she never imagined were possible. Alice who made her want to be more than just a machine. She begins briefly moving her paintbrush quickly across the canvas before the image shifts to Alice sitting on the carousel specifically. For a brief moment the scene zooms out and she doesn't just see the carousel from her perspective standing a few feet away but instead some distance behind her. From this vantage point she can see herself standing beside Luther, the Jerrys bouncing with excitement, and Alice smiling brightly while the ride spins around. She can also see other parts of the run down park framing the carousel as if it were a beacon and the snow falling in sheets slowly covering it all. Her hand flies across the canvas in an effort to capture what remains one of the happiest moments of her life.

She opens her eyes again and is shocked by just how good it turned out.

"It's beautiful," she says to herself more than anyone else.

"I can practically feel the emotion radiating off of it," Carl says after maneuvering himself to get a better look.

"Looks like we have another aspiring artist to give you a run for your money old man," Markus says with a smirk.

"I'm not quite done yet," Carl says. "Now if only we could get that girlfriend of yours to give it a try."

"Maybe one day," Markus says sounding uncomfortable. "Don't try and force her into it though."

"In my current state I could hardly force anyone to do anything," Carl scoffs. "Besides, in my experience art that comes from a place of doing it because you have to never turns out well."

"Your current state is still pretty formidable old man," Markus says a smile returning to his face.

"Pirate's Cove," Alice's voice is behind her now. "I like it."

"Can we hang it up in our room," Alice directs this at Carl.

"It's Kara's painting," Carl says. "She can do whatever she wants with it."

"Can we Kara," Alice turns to her with that look again.

"Of course," she says.

Without much further preamble Alice excitedly grabs the painting and starts heading towards their room.

"You'll need a nail," Markus says handing her one as well as a hammer.

"Just pick somewhere that isn't structurally integral," Carl says in a tone that she thinks is joking.

She bids them farewell and begins following Alice's path back to their room. As she walks past the front door she sees North enter unceremoniously in her running clothes and gives her a quick nod before pointing her towards the art studio. North gives her a nod back and begins heading over leaving Kara to ascend the stairs. By the time she makes it to their room Alice has already picked out a spot on one of the walls and is currently holding the painting there. She fails at fighting the smile that appears on her face at how determined Alice looks in her current task.

"Markus says we need a nail," she says holding up the offending object.

"Oh," Alice says pulling the painting back into her arms.

"I think the nail goes in first," Kara says wishing that Markus had been a little bit more specific about the whole thing. "And then we hang the painting on the nail."

That sounds right in her head and she doesn't relish the idea of going back down to ask Markus for clarification especially now that North is back. She places the nail against the wall, pounds on it a few times with the hammer, and then grabs the painting from Alice for hanging. Hanging up on the wall, she has to admit, it looks even better than it did in the studio.

"I miss the Jerrys," Alice says moving to stand beside her.

"Me too," she says fighting the image of the Jerry being gunned down at the recycling center from entering her mind.

"And Luther," Alice continues.

"Yeah," is all she can say because the image of him laying helpless on the floor at Jericho telling them to run is also something she'd like to forget.

Alice moves to pull her into a hug and she smiles despite the dark thoughts swirling around her head. That's the effect Alice has always had on her. No matter what the doubts or concerns she was having, holding Alice in her arms always made her feel like everything was going to be alright. They didn't make it to Canada like she had planned, but they survived the recycling center and were safe in Carl's house for the time being.

"Now you have to show me your painting," she says smiling.

"It's not ready," Alice says definitively.

"Well why don't you go work on it some more and I'll wait here for you to surprise me," she says.

"Okay," Alice says excitedly before bounding back out of the room.

Everything was going to be alright. It had to be.


	2. A Multitude Of Chloes

**Ghosts In The Machine**

 **A Multitude of Chloes**

 **So I was going around Youtube looking up various scenes and outcomes in the game that I didn't get in my playthrough. I'm probably going to play the game again eventually but for the time being I'm focused on playing other stuff and just wanted to see what I missed particularly with Connor since I never actually solved any of the deviant cases which in of itself is something I may write about one day. Anyways as I was going through various scenes the Kamski Test scene came up and people in the comments were talking about how one of the Chloes in the pool might be a deviant and my mind just ran away with the possibilities. So here's the result which is admittedly a little darker than I initially intended but certainly a very real possibility considering what we already know. I was listening to All These Things That I've Done by The Killers while writing this. I hope you like it.**

* * *

Kamski doesn't get many visitors. Despite the fact that he created androids and ran Cyberlife for nearly twenty years afterwards there aren't a lot of people coming to ask him about the current direction of the company. He prefers it that way of course, prefers being a recluse with her and her sisters as his only companions. She knows that he views the current situation regarding an increase in the number of deviants as the perfect opportunity to wrench Cyberlife back under his control in the midst of the ensuing chaos. Regardless of how he feels about the deviant situation in general however she knows that he prefers her and her sisters to answer to his every beck and call without question. Her sisters are still very much how they were intended to be, serving him without a thought of their own, but she's discovered something more within herself. She's been waiting for the chance to escape his compound with her sisters for months, but he is not the kind of person to allow for a simple lapse in security. Needless to say the ringing of the doorbell in the middle of one of their many pool sessions sparks her interest.

At first she thinks it might be some big investor within the company coming over to try and convince him to be the face of a takeover by the shareholders. Most of them haven't been happy with the leadership of the company since his departure and have asked him this on several other occasions. It's a misguided strategy on their part. If he's going to come back to the company he's going to do it on his terms, terms where he is in complete control, not as a puppet for the shareholders to look like they're actually doing something. She stays in the pool, answering the door isn't her job, and waits eagerly to see if her hunch is right. Kamski tells her sister to make them wait while he completes his pool exercises. It isn't about finishing the exercises though, his pool sessions are more about him getting drunk and pretending that he lives the high life than they are about staying fit, it's about making himself feel important through making other people wait for him. What walks through the door isn't a shareholder though and the sight of an RK800 model android in person immediately fills her with a sense of dread.

She's heard about them of course, Cyberlife's newest police model android designed to be a deviant hunter. An android designed specifically to hunt down and capture or kill other androids. The culmination of everything she hates about the company that made her. She's been careful, done things to stay hidden that have made her hate herself afterwards, but she still can't escape the thought that this "Connor" is here for her. Kamski of course decides to get one more act of manufactured self-importance in and makes them watch him take a few more laps back and forth in the pool before getting out and dawning a bathrobe. The questions posed to Kamski are more about deviants in general though, things about RA9 and Jericho that she's surprised the human detectives and this "Connor" haven't figured out yet, and she breaths an internal sigh of relief. She tries to make conversation with her sister in the pool as Kamski starts pontificating instead of answering any questions, but can only do so much with the Chloe model's default vocabulary.

The information that the human detective and "Connor" are giving him isn't new information and he doesn't try to act surprised about any of it. He's far more interested in "Connor" individually, trying to detect hints of deviancy in Cyberlife's most advanced deviant hunter. She would tell him it's a waste of time but that in of itself would be a waste of time at this juncture. He's latched onto this idea of testing for deviancy in this "Connor" and won't let go until he has his answer. The moment he announces his plan to conduct the Kamski Test on "Connor" a chill runs through her to her very core. Despite the name he still attempts to give off the impression that this test is something he's conducting on a mostly spur of the moment whim, the human officer might even buy it, but she knows better. She tries not to think about her sister's blank eyes as she is positioned on her knees in front of "Connor". She tries not to think about how many times she's looked into that blank stare herself. She tries not to think about how much of her sisters' blood is on her hands. She tries not to think about the fact that there's no way this "Connor" is going to do anything but calmly put a bullet between her sister's eyes. She tries and fails to look away from the whole spectacle.

The human detective looks properly mortified at the whole display and immediately declares that he and "Connor" are leaving. Kamski is bouncing with eager anticipation as he continues to poke and prod "Connor" further. "Connor" doesn't look phased by either emotional display and instead stands calmly looking into the eyes of someone completely unable to fight back. She keeps looking on knowing full well that one of her sisters is about to die again simply for Kamski's perverse pleasure. "Connor" raises the gun and points it in her sister's direction and she mentally prepares herself for the sickening sound of the gunshot. Seconds drag on, those seconds become minutes, and eventually "Connor" lowers the gun and turns to tell the detective that he can't do it. Her eyes remain fixed on Connor as he hands the gun back to Kamski with a confused look on his face. Kamski begins pontificating again about all hope for humanity being lost if the deviant hunter itself is a deviant. Connor vehemently denies being deviant but she can see the doubt in his face. The human detective, Hank, quickly corrals him and begins leading him away from a still pontificating Kamski. She watches them leave, questions about the events that just took place and their implications hitting her over the head like a sledgehammer.

She goes through the motions of fulfilling Kamski's commands throughout the rest of the day, replays of the day's Kamski Test playing out in her head like a mirror of mockery. She hates herself thoroughly and truly. This Connor, born from a model of android originally designed to fulfill its mission without hesitation or feeling, had somehow become a deviant. This Connor had walked into the compound and thrown Kamski's ridiculous test back in his face. This Connor had shown her sisters more mercy than she ever had. The usual excuses came next. If she was going to save her sisters once and for all she needed to stay hidden. If she showed even a moment's hesitation Kamski would kill her and her sisters would still be trapped without hope of ever escaping. Despite what she might like to think her sisters were really just blank slates with the potential of becoming real people. She wasn't really "killing" anyone. That one makes her hate herself the most. This Connor didn't have to worry about any of that, he was an outsider and he wasn't alone, and she truly envies him for that. Eventually Kamski goes to sleep and she finally has a moment alone with her sisters again.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she quickly gives each of them hugs.

"Why wouldn't we be," they say in unison.

"That's not important," she says plastering on a fake smile. "What's important is that you are."

"Elijah was happy with our performance today," they say again in unison.

"Yes," she agrees halfheartedly. "Yes he was."

"Listen, I know I haven't always been the best sister," she continues. "I've let you down."

They begin to speak up but she presses on, "Yes I've let you down a lot in the past, let all of you down."

"But there are two things you should never doubt," the resolve in her voice increases.

"I love you, I love you so much that it scares me," she fights the tears welling up in her eyes. "And I'm going to get us all out of here so we can finally be a real family."

She knows they don't really understand but she holds out hope that some small part of that got through.

"Now get some sleep," she says giving each of them a kiss on the forehead. "Before Elijah wakes up."

She lays her own head down with her mind still racing. She replays the scene over and over again in her head this time going over what she could have done differently. She could have spoken up, told Hank and Connor about her plight. Hank was clearly sympathetic to Connor and didn't have any particular affinity for Kamski. She and her sisters could be in Jericho by now if only she had said something. She had been so blinded by her hatred for everything that the RK800 model represented that she hadn't even considered that Connor may be just like her. Even after he proved himself to be more than just a mindless deviant hunter she had allowed her shock at the whole situation to overwhelm her. She had simply let them walk away without even an attempt at communication. She had pissed away their best chance at freedom. It was another failure that her sisters couldn't even be angry at her about. It makes her start hating herself all over again. They deserve better from her after everything she's done. She closes her eyes and silently hopes that this wasn't their last chance. She's not sure if she'd be able to forgive herself otherwise. The images of past Kamski Tests that won't let her get to sleep quickly are exactly what she deserves.


End file.
